Blazers Fans “One More Time” Bracket Results

The bracket to determine which Portland Trail Blazers player you’d most like to see return to the squad for just one more season has been decided, albeit by the narrowest of margins. A little over a month ago, we selected 16 players from years of yore, incredible talents who graced the franchise with memorable performances. We ask you which of the 16 you’d like to see come back once more for a farewell tour: to watch them play once more, to help out the team, or both. We intentionally did not include Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton in the bracket, as their contributions would trump everyone else’s. But the 16 we did choose were impressive.

First Round

In the first round of the tournament...

Jerome Kersey defeated Scottie Pippen

Brian Grant defeated Wesley Matthews

Brandon Roy defeated Geoff Petrie

Cliff Robinson defeated Terry Porter

Drazen Petrovic defeated Rasheed Wallace

LaMarcus Aldridge defeated Damon Stoudamire

Arvydas Sabonis defeated Billy Ray Bates

Maurice Lucas defeated Kiki Vandeweghe

Of all of those, the only mild surprise was Uncle Cliffy upsetting Porter, but readers were fairly clear in their preferences throughout.

Second Round

In the second round of the tournament...

Jerome Kersey defeated Brian Grant

Brandon Roy defeated Cliff Robinson

Drazen Petrovic defeated LaMarcus Aldridge

Arvydas Sabonis defeated Maurice Lucas

The Sabonis-Lucas contest was the closest of the entire tournament, virtually tied after on-site and Twitter votes were compiled. We had to go to an email tie-breaker to determine it. Sabas prevailed there, barely.

Third Round

In the semi-finals...

Brandon Roy defeated Jerome Kersey

Arvydas Sabonis defeated Drazen Petrovic

The Kersey-Roy matchup was heart-wrenching and close. Just naming those two franchise greats in the same sentence was enough to send chills up any Blazers fan’s spine.

Final Round

After tabulating the results, by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%, Arvydas Sabonis is the Trail Blazers player you’d most like to see return for one season. The giant Lithuanian not only brought out warm memories, comparisons to NBA MVP Nikola Jokic abounded. Though momentum for Roy ran high, particularly given the duration of his injury-shortened career, Sabonis proved the victor.

As a reward, enjoy some Arvydas Sabonis career highlights!

Thank you to Sabas, Brandon Roy, and all the Trail Blazers who gave us great memories! Feel free to share your favorites who didn’t make our bracket below!